


This is Not a Love Story

by WaterandWin



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Magic, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-09-09
Updated: 2013-09-11
Packaged: 2017-12-26 02:47:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,490
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/960670
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WaterandWin/pseuds/WaterandWin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Formerly titled 'Lost Things'</p><p>Students are advised not to venture off school grounds after dark. The wards are there for your own protection. All manner of dangers can roam about the city streets at night, among them Shifters, creatures which crave human flesh and carry with them the uncanny ability to mimic the appearance of any human on whom they have fed. They have one other shape they can taken, their True form, but any unlucky soul who has the misfortune of coming upon them in this state will find the Shifter Bound to them till death do you part. </p><p>Eren Jaeger is one such unfortunate, but his bad luck is far from through. All Shifters were once human, after all...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the SnK Kink Meme, but I think I've deviated too far from the prompt.
> 
> Prompt:  
>  _Annie is a Daemon or any type of supernatural creature who gets injured somehow. Luckily the one who finds her is Eren who is a Doctor-in-training. There is this rule that whoever sees the true form of whatever Annie is must marry him/her. No exceptions. So Annie is forced to marry Eren who is a human (or is he?). Eren is not happy either but he'd rather not die._

Eren flipped his hood over his head as far as it would go, and with a slight of hand made himself Innocuous. It did not render him invisible, such spells were far beyond his abilities (for now), but as long as he drew no attention to himself he could go unnoticed even in plain sight. Beside him Armin did the same, taking the extra precaution to silence their footsteps as the two of them crept through the hallways of the college.   
  
Their residence hall was one of the old buildings, built from stone and kept standing by magic and secrets. Still, most of its security was focused on keeping unwanted visitors out, so two students slipping out into the night made little difference. The September air already carried an autumn’s chill with it, but at least the clouds were not so thick tonight as to block out all the stars. The two boys made straight for the gate. At this hour, they ran into no one. It was not until they passed through the ancient stone wall and into the city on the other side that the nightlife erupted around them. As promised, another cloaked figure was waiting for them at the streetlight at the end of the alley.   
  
“Took you long enough,” Jean said when they made themselves apparent.   
  
“We’re here, aren’t we?” Eren snapped back as he flipped off his hood.   
  
“Sorry we kept you waiting,” Armin added.   
  
Jean dismissed both of them with a wave of the hand. “Doesn’t matter. Are you ready?”   
  
They both nodded.   
  
“Excellent,” Jean grinned. “This way.”   
  
He lead them around a few blocks to the main street where the evening was still young. Here in the magical quarter, magicians and hacks alike had stalls and shops set up along both sides of the road, selling everything from alchemical ingredients to love potions to exotic pets. The air was thick with smells of strange incenses and roasting meat. Music wafted in among the hustle and bustle of the crowds.   
  
“Don’t fall behind now,” Jean said as he noticed Armin drifting off examine a stall stuffed with caged reptiles, some of which issued the occasional puff of smoke from their nostrils. Armin fell back into step looking disappointed.   
  
“Don’t worry,” Eren whispered to him. “We’ll come back.”  
  
Jean turned off the main street without warning onto a much smaller road. He lead them a few blocks more before turning again and stopping in front of a run-down pub.  
  
Eren wrinkled his nose. “This is it?”   
  
“This is it,” Jean answered.  
  
“It doesn’t look like much.”   
  
Jean already had his hand on the door. “Chickening out, Jaeger?”   
  
Armin looked between the two of them and waiting for Eren’s signal. He didn’t have long to wait.  
  
“Not a chance,” Eren said as he forced his way past Jean inside.  
  
The pub was so smoky his eyes watered as soon as he stepped over the threshold. Unlike Armin, he did not note it strange that there be so much smoke in a place occupied only by a few patrons, none of whom were smoking. They all looked up when the new group entered, and upon seeing it was nothing more than some harmless students, returned to their hushed conversations and murky glasses of strong drink.   
  
Jean ushered his friends into a booth in the corner and returned a moment later with three glasses of something bright gold and faintly glowing.   
  
“What is it?” Armin asked.   
  
“Try it and find out,” Jean replied as he scooted in beside him.   
  
Armin eyed the drink suspiciously before taking an experimental sniff and immediately falling into a fit of coughing.   
  
“It ain’t poison,” Jean promised in a tone that might suggest otherwise. He raised his own glass to Eren. “After you.”  
  
Eren accepted the challenge and raised his own glass in return. He kept his eyes locked to Jean’s as he brought the drink to his lips and swallowed two big gulps. He realized immediately it was a mistake. Whatever Jean had given him was thick, chunky, and tasted like someone had watered down sweetened pumpkin mush with gasoline and urine. It burned all the way down before beginning to simmer its way back up.   
  
“You’re not supposed to  _chug_  it!” Jean yelled after him as he bolted for the door.   
  
Eren had just enough time to make it outside and into the tiny alley beside the pub. The drink might actually have tasted better the second time, but it was hard to say. When it was over, he straightened up and wiped his mouth with the back of his sleeve, and that’s when he noticed the shape.   
  
It was slumped against the wall not fifteen meters away. He might not even have noticed it in the gloom of the cramped space between the two buildings had it not been steaming gently. Now that Eren looked, however, he noticed that it was not just steaming, but moving. It took him a second to realize that the form was that of a person. Whoever they were, they were breathing hard.   
  
“Hello, there! Are you alright?” he called out to them.   
  
The shape took no notice of him. Eren took a step closer.  
  
“Can you hear me?” he called again.   
  
A few steps more and he noticed that part of the shape that he had mistaken for a shadow was actually a dark puddle. A hand drawn across the person’s abdomen glistened in the lamplight.   
  
“Are you hurt?” Eren asked as he continued closer.  
  
A stone shifted under his foot. For some reason this sound was what snapped the figure’s head up to look at him. It was a woman. Her hair was a filthy blonde and long enough to fall into her eyes. They were a piercing blue and seemed to reflect the meager light like a cat's.   
  
Eren put up his hands to show he meant to harm. “I won’t hurt you.”  
  
She didn’t seem to believe him, as she immediately tried to stand. As soon as she attempted to get to her feet, however, agony sent her doubling over again. Fresh blood ran between his fingers.  
  
“I can help,” Eren insisted as he continued to move closer. “I’m a student at the college here. I study medical spells. Please, let me help you.”  
  
“No,” she croaked.  
  
“Please. Can’t you see you’re dying?”  
  
“Get  _back_ ,” she growled through her teeth.   
  
Eren did no such thing. On the contrary, he continued creeping forward until he was close enough to touch her. She was wrapped in some kind of filthy shawl and not much else, though with so little it was hard to be sure. The woman turned away from him and curled into herself, but Eren was already gathering wisps of magic around his fingers. As soon as he touched her abdomen, her blood slithered back between her fingers and the flesh knitted itself closed.   
  
“There,” Eren smiled. “See?”   
  
She studied his face with an expression frozen between horror and something Eren couldn’t identify. He offered her a hand to help her up. She grabbed his wrist instead. It was then that Eren noticed she had claws. Black and shining, they dug into his flesh like a vice. His eyes widened in panic and he tried to pull his arm back, but she held it firm as she sunk her teeth around his wrist. Eren yelped, but just as suddenly as she had bit him she let go, leaped to her feet, and broke into a run. Her shawl flew off discarded and underneath Eren could have sworn was not skin but bare muscle.   
  
“Wait a minute!” Eren yelled as she turned a corner. Cradling his injured wrist, he sprinted after her, but by the time he got to the corner there was no sign of her, not even the sound of running footsteps.  
  
Eren checked for her one more time before looking down at the neat row of teeth forming an almost perfect circle on his arm. He winced as he gathered up the magic to perform the same spell on himself that he had used on her. Perhaps he was just low on power, because even after the wounds closed each puncture left a small, black scar in its place.   
  
Armin would know better what to do, but now was not the time to ask. Eren pulled his sleeve over the marks and made a mental note to ask his friend in the morning. No way he was letting Jean catch wind of this story, else the whole school would know by lunchtime tomorrow. Whatever it was, it could wait. Surely there was nothing dangerous about a few scars. They didn’t hurt or even tingle as Eren went back into the pub, and by the time he had to face Jean’s ridicule over being sick at his first taste of alcohol, he had forgotten completely about them. He drank, he laughed, and soon enough the three of them were stumbling back to their rooms. Eren collapsed fully clothed onto his bed and was asleep in an instant.  
  
It was still dark out when he woke up again. When Eren cracked an eye open he only had the moonlight streaming from under his curtain to see by. Everything was still and the only sounds were of Armin breathing quietly in the bed on the other side of the room. Eren groaned at the throb in his head, but as he reached up to rub his temple a shadow flashed across his vision. Before he had time to even register what it might have been, a huge weight pressed him into the mattress. A large hand clamped itself over his mouth to stiffle a half-formed cry of protest. Eren tried to struggle, but one of his arms was pinned to his mattress, the other beneath him. A second shadow stepped into his field of view.  
  
“Don’t make us hurt you,” it said. It was a young man's voice, probably Eren’s age. He had to crane his head to look up at him. Two eyes glowed unnaturally bright hazel in the moonlight. By his silhouette, the figure was huge, easily over thirty stone.   
  
Eren tried to growl an insult at him, but the hand over his mouth muffled all the words. On the other side of the room, Armin was well and thoroughly passed out.

The figure stooped down and pulled back the sleeve over Eren’s pinned hand. The black scars were as clear as ever.   
  
“It’s him alright,” the figure declared as he straightened up. “You sure know how to pick ‘em. Okay, Bertholdt, hold him still.” He cracked his knuckles. “I’d say this isn’t going to hurt, but I’d be lying." He raised a fist. Eren struggled to no avail.

"Well, goodnight.” 

He brought the fist down and everything turned to stars. 


	2. Chapter 2

The next thing Eren knew, the only thing he knew, was the throb in his head. He gritted his teeth to stop his skull from splitting open as he clumsily gathered up a spell to numb the pain. It was then that he noticed the blanket he was under did not smell like his own, and for that matter neither did anything else. He propped himself up on his elbows and took a look around.  
  
He was in some kind of small, run-down bedroom. The wallpaper was yellowed and peeling, and there was not much in the way of furniture save for the bed, a desk, and a bookshelf all of which looked like they were already antiques when some of Eren’s older professors were just getting around to being born. It looked like some grandmother’s house that had fallen into disrepair, so much so that someone had boarded up the windows.  
  
Eren sat up further. In the absence of a headache, his head felt heavy like he was running a fever. He was still wearing his clothes from last night, though someone had thought to remove his shoes and place them neatly at the bedside. His jacket was gone, too, hanging by the door. Eren went to pull back the covers and froze at the sight of his wrist. The black dots where the woman had bitten him had expanded and grown together into a ring.   
  
He jumped out of bed. His vision swam. He yanked on his shoes and without bothering to lace them made for his coat. It was only when he giggled the door knob that it dawned on him that he was locked in. Of course he was, but for him it was a simple matter of drawing up a few threads of magic. It had only gotten started when the doorknob giggled back.  
  
Eren stumbled away as the lock clicked and the door cracked open. He was expecting the shadowed strangers from before, ready to fight them off if need be, but instead he was surprised to see his visitor was a young woman. She looked altogether small and unthreatening, with blue eyes and thin blond hair tied up in a messy bun. She didn’t look particularly friendly either. She sized Eren up for a moment before stepping inside and closing the door behind her.   
  
“What’s your name?” she asked with a businesslike calm. There was something familiar about it that Eren could not place.   
  
He stared down at her. “What’s yours?”  
  
He fully expected her to insist that she had asked first, but she did not. “Annie.”  
  
“Oh, uh, Eren.” Unsure of what else to do, he extended a hand to shake. Annie took it, only to wrench his wrist sideways and pull back his sleeve. Was it his imagination, or was the black ring wider now? “I can explain,” he began.  
  
“You still have another hour,” Annie said as she returned his hand to him. “Do yourself a favor and don’t make any escape attempts.”  
  
“What?” She was already turning to leave. “Wait, don’t go! Tell me what’s going on! Where am I? Why can’t I go? What’s going to happen in an hour?”  
  
Annie stopped with her hand on the doorknob. After a long pause she turned her head but did not look at Eren. “I’m not sorry,” she said quietly. “But I hope you’ll understand why I did what I did.”   
  
Then she left. Eren threw every unlocking spell he could think of at the door, but it had clearly been hexed to resist such magic. The wood also proved too strong for any attempt at physically forcing it open. The same went for the boarded-up window, though not for lack of trying. After wasting nearly fifteen minutes knocking at the clear exits, Eren resorted to scouring the room for any other sign of a way out. After half an hour he couldn’t even locate a loose floorboard, much less a hidden door behind the bookshelf. None of the books themselves were of any use as most were in a language Eren couldn’t identify much less decypher. In the meantime, he periodically pulled up his sleeve to check on his wrist. As minutes ticked by, the circle of teeth marks was gradually filling itself in. He could not even begin to guess what would happen when it was full, but he had a hunch he would find out within the hour.   
  
He tried the door and window again. He made a racket and called for help. He even yelled for Annie by name despite not even knowing if she was on his side. For all he knew she was in league with his kidnappers. The more he thought about it, the more it made sense, actually. He stopped his banging on the door for a moment to consider. Yes, that would explain why she had the key to his room, wouldn’t it? How many more of them could there be? Eren could probably take on three, especially if one of them was a tiny girl. If he caught her off guard he could probably knock her out before she made a sound, and then he’d have a way out and the element of surprise on his side if he ran into her friends...  
  
A stab of pain ran unexpectedly through Eren’s abdomen. He doubled over in shock just as another wave hit him and he collapsed beside the door. He tried to numb himself again but his hands were shaking and the pain was too much to concentrate through. He curled into a ball and bit his lip so hard he tasted blood, but it was no use. The ring on his wrist was filled in black, but soon black circles began to spot his vision everywhere he looked until he could only squeeze his eyes shut and scream for the pain to stop.   
  
The door knocked him as it opened but he could no longer tell who it was. His ears were ringing and it felt like his body was being shredded from the inside. Even so, he fought when somebody laid their hands on him. A male swore. Eren flailed his limbs harder. He could feel himself on the brink of unconsciousness.   
  
“Stop,” said a woman’s voice. It belonged to the woman in the alley. It belonged to Annie.   
  
Eren passed out.

* * *

The eyes. He should have known from the eyes. He should have recognized the bite marks. It should not have been the voice that tipped him off. He should have known. He should have known.   
  
Eren opened his eyes and stared at the strange ceiling. His body felt heavy with fatigue and too much sleep. He wanted never to move again in his entire life. Beside the bed, he saw Annie was sitting on a wooden chair she had drawn up from the desk. She was reading one of the books from the shelf. He watched her for several minutes without saying a word.   
  
“You’re a Shifter,” he finally said quietly.   
  
Annie looked up. They watched each other until Eren looked back to the ceiling. “I’m one too now, aren’t I?”  
  
“I had to,” Annie said.  
  
“I saved your life.”  
  
“I never asked you to.”  
  
Slowly, Eren pulled his arm out from under the covers. Every muscle felt like it had been pushed to its limit the day before. The mark on his wrist was gone completely. There was only smooth skin where it had once been.  
  
“I wasn’t just going to let someone die while there was still something I could do about it.”  
  
Annie closed her book. “Would you still have done it if you knew I was a monster?”  
  
Eren stopped to consider. Shifters were one of the most dangerous beasts to live among humans for the simple fact that they could make themselves indistinguishable from the general population. Any human they knew they could impersonate, though there were a few things that set them apart from just any old party trick. One such detail was their diet of human flesh.   
  
“No,” Eren said. He swallowed and gritted his teeth. “I would have killed you myself.”   
  
“Then you’re not as dumb as you look,” Annie said as she set her book down on the table and folded her hands on her lap. “What will you do now?”  
  
“I should kill you.” Eren said. Annie did not so much as flinch. Eren made no move to attack either. He could have. He could have thrown back the covers and wrapped his hands around her tiny throat and squeezed. He could have pressed his thumbs into her windpipe until she was blue in the face and gasping. He could have grinned while she clawed at his arms with the last of her strength. Then and only then would he finally kill her. He’d rip out the nape of her neck with the fangs she had wrought for him.   
  
He looked over at her face. She was watching him, waiting for answer. She did not look scared, but she did not look doubtful either.   
  
He looked over his hand again. It still appeared like his own.  
  
“Can I go home like this?”  
  
Annie studied his face a while before responding. “You can.”  
  
"Then that's what I'm going to do." Eren’s muscles protested as he sat up. “But one question first.” Annie said nothing. “Why didn’t you eat me?”  
  
“We don’t  _have_  to eat,” Annie shrugged.  
  
“I know that,” Eren replied. “But you could have. Why didn’t you?”  
  
Annie looked at her lap as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “It’s complicated.”   
  
“Tell me.”   
  
Her bright, bright eyes were back on him. “How much do you know about Shifters’ True forms?”  
  
Eren shrugged. “Not much. They’re supposed to be a secret, so not too many people have seen them. I hear they look pretty gross.”  
  
“And what of the people who  _have_  seen them?”  
  
“What about them?”  
  
“Do you know what happens?”  
  
Eren tilted his head and shot her a skeptical look. Annie pursed her lips and tucked her hair again.   
  
“Seeing a Shifter in their True form Bonds them to you for life,” she said quietly.   
  
“So?”  
  
Annie looked to the door. It was shut. She kept her voice low when she asked, “do you remember what I looked like in the alley?”   
  
“Vaguely.”  
  
“Describe it,” she urged.  
  
Eren thought back. “Blonde. Bloody. Kind of dirty. Skinless, I think.”  
  
Annie waited for him to connect the dots.   
  
“...but Shifters only copy.”  
  
“Not our True forms. Those are unique.”   
  
“So that would mean-- what I saw-- and you’re-- No.” His eyes grew wide. It couldn't be. He refused to believe it. “You turned me so I could be with you?” Annie wasn’t looking him in the eye. It just made Eren all the more furious. Suddenly he was on his feet. “You took away my life, my future, and you expect me to just shrug and get hitched?”  
  
When Annie looked up her brows were furrowed, too, but she remained seated. It made no difference; Eren would have towered over her either way. He wanted to kill her, he really did. It was filth like her that took his mother away. They all deserved to die, every last one, and yet there was a small, quiet part of Eren that held him back. Her circumstances and biology did not justify or even excuse her actions, but under all of Eren’s rage there was an inkling of pity, and so he stayed his hand. Just this once.  
  
“Fuck you,” he spat instead, and turned to pull on his shoes. Annie finally stood. When he looked up, she was holding his coat out to him. He snatched it from her.   
  
“Find us here again if you change your mind,” she said. “We don’t stay in one place long. We’ll be gone by the end of the week.”   
  
“Don’t hold your breath,” he growled on his way out the door.  
  
It lead into hallway. One direction lead to a dead end so he followed the other into a cluttered kitchen. It lay in the same state of disrepair as the bedroom, but much more well-used. At the small table in the center sat two young men in the middle of a breakfast of eggs and what may or may not have been ham. Eren knew them both to be Shifters by their eyes. Sitting on the counter was a third Shifter, a woman with greasy brown hair and a piece of toast in her hand.   
  
“Well if it isn’t sleeping beauty,” he said with her mouth full.  
  
The two men at the table looked up. Eren instantly recognized the shorter of the two. He had seen his eyes before in his own bedroom. He was blond like Annie, but that was where any similarities ended. He was built like he made of hobby of wrestling bears. His friend in contrast was darker-haired, darker-skinned, and lanky like he was more limbs than person. Eren shot all three of them a dirty look and stopped only to locate the front door. Beside it was a cracked mirror. Eren hesitated only to check his face was his own. It was, but his eyes at once foreign and hauntingly familiar.   
  
“Hey,” the woman called out after him. “You’re supposed to thank your host.”   
  
Eren slammed the door behind him.  
  
It was dark out, but by the color of the sky it had not been for long. The evening was not overly cold but for some reason Eren shivered and pulled his coat on tighter around him. He wandered to the nearest corner to check the name of the street. It was not one he recognized, but by the looks of it he was in one of the poor districts of the city. There were no shops here, only bums and apartments slowly crumbling to dust. He scanned the skyline for the clocktower and made his way toward that.   
  
As he walked, he stuck his hands into his jacket pockets, and was surprised to find something hard and cold inside. When he pulled it out, he found it was a key. He didn’t remember putting it in there. He stopped and looked behind him.   
  
Of course. Annie had invited him back and handed him his coat. She knew he wouldn’t have accepted a key otherwise, but if she thought he was going to return, she was deluding herself. Eren twirled the key around his fingers as the buildings around him blended into the city center and life began to fill the streets. With it came the usual smells street food and spices, but a new scent as well, one wholly new and incredibly appetizing. Eren inhaled deeply but couldn't place it. It was familiar somehow, but he was sure he had never smelled it before. Just a whiff of it made his mouth water. His stomach gave a gurgle to remind him he hadn't eaten since his night out with Jean. It must have been a day now, perhaps more. 

A large group of teenagers walked past, parting in the middle around Eren. The smell seemed to cling to them, strong enough for Eren's vision to swim. His mouth parted involuntarily and a trail of saliva would have escaped had he not reached up to wipe it. When they passed so did the scent, and suddenly Eren knew what is was he had smelled on them. It was no spiced meat or exotic confection; his craving was for human flesh. 

He stopped by a small public fountain to breathe and swallow bile. In the center was a statue of Maria pouring a pitcher of water. Eren looked from The Sister’s strangely sad face to the key in his hand. His fist closed around it. The faces of the four Shifters swam up in his mind. Gritting his teeth, he hurled the key into the water with all his strength.

The next time they showed their faces, he would gut them all. 


End file.
